Filipino Birthday Parties and Beach Day

We don't go to many birthday parties here, especially when done at McDonald's. However, the boys couldn't pass up an invite to their really good friend's 8th birthday....Peter!

Instead of Happy Meals, we have chicken and spaghetti at McDonald's parties. Jamin opted out for an order of french fries instead;)

On this Friday (Sept 28th), I wanted to really get out of the house. Doing homeschool all week tends to keep us inside....getting cabin fever. It's been raining all week also. So seeing sunshine as soon as we woke up this day, I decided that we hurry and do our basic lessons (math, language, spelling) and then head for the beach. Jamin and Jesse didn't complain one bit! It's been a long time since we've taken the time to spend the day (as a family) together on the beach and at the beach resort that we are a member at. Last year, we bought a membership (which is really cheap by the way), and then only went one time that year. Isn't that sad?

When we arrived, it was high tide, but we didn't mind. We stayed and had a blast. Here is what we came upon as soon as we got to the beach. There was only one jellyfish, thank goodness. The rest of the pics were just taken throughout the day. After the beach, we headed for the pools there.

Manila trip with the Allen's

Would you believe that we've been here in the Philippines for 5 years now? Man, time flies. Every year, if schedules allow, we try to meet up with the Allen family. This year, we met in Manila and had a great time together. My good friend, Joanna, has made a little tribute to our last 5 years together (mostly pics of the kids). If you get a chance, go to the link section on the left hand side of our blog, click on Allenupdate, and look at her blog about the kids. There are some really cute pics of all 4 of the kids since we've been here.

One afternoon, we went to the mall to watch Evan Almighty......before doing so, while dads were paying for the tickets, the kids found something interesting on the floor.....Moving dots...and moving fish/stars. They totally had a blast stepping on the dots. Watch the video to see what we are talking about.

Good friends, Joanna Allen and Connie. See the carousel behind us? All of our kids (except Jamin) were riding that at the time.

We also visited a museum while in Manila. At first, we thought it was kind of cheesy. When we arrived, they had to turn on all the lights and fans. No one had been there but us. We ended up having a really good time, and enjoyed several of the exhibits....especially the mirrors.
Check out videos below.

One of our favorite treats is Krispy Kremes (only found in Manila). While there, an employee asked if the kids wanted to go behind the scenes and see how donuts were made. Of course our kids took them up on the idea. They had to wear the protective hats of course, but enjoyed getting to make their own chocolate dipped with sprinkles donut. Right before the tour, both of my boys had already had 2 glazed donuts (first pic below), and were fully high on sugar. The chocolate donut took them over the top.....but it was worth it;)

Here is a pic of Jesse eating corn at Chili's, which happens to be Jamin's favorite eating place. We went to as many American eating places as we could while in Manila......we call it "Little America"

To end our 4 day stay in Manila, we took the kids ice skating (a first for them). Jesse attempted to skate, but ended up hugging the wall. After 5 minutes of getting real personal with the wall, he decided that ice skating wasn't his cup of tea. However, Jamin absolutely loved it. We had bought an all day pass, not realizing that we would use it. Jamin went back for a 2nd try after lunch. He said that he rated his experience up there with Disneyworld and Six Flags. It sure was cheaper than those two;) Oh yeah, Robert graciously volunteered to skate with the boys because Connie likes it on the outside of the rink better. He had only skated a couple of times in his life, yet he looked like a pro. Check out the video of Jamin skating below....

Jamin and Carly were the brave ones!

Boys schooling

Forgive the quality of the pics. My hubby took our good camera with him to Hong Kong. I wanted to take pics today, and all I had was a 3.0M video/digital camera. But I wanted to show some of our pics from school. Today we had art time (of which we didn't do at all last school year-a different story/another time). We decided to do Mr. Potato Head, with an artistic flare.

Below is Jesse's "Mr. Alien Head"

This is Jamin's "Mr. Punk Head"

This is all three including mom's "Mrs. Potato Head"

Then after school, Jamin and a friend where inspired to work on this

"Mr. Pirate Potato Head"

Here is Jesse working on his favorite subject, Math. He would sit and work on worksheets all day long if I would let him. Also below is a pic of what he is actually doing in Math at the moment...on Day 7 of his 3rd grade school year!

Videos of the boys

This is an older video of Jamin (March 2006) in baseball. He didn't get to play in 2007 season because of furlough. We hope to have newer videos of both boys playing when the time arises.

This was video taken during the neighborhood Christmas party for kids in 2006. Some of the kids are waiting in line for icecream. If you notice, only Jesse and his friend, Peter, are acting crazy. Every one else is calming waiting:)

August Furlough pics

August was a bittersweet month for us. We were fast approaching the end of our furlough journey. We were all ready to be home, but not ready to say the goodbyes. Below are pics of our last few days with our family.

We finally had some family pics taken before we left. This was taken in front of Robert's parents house in Lufkin.

Connie and her grandma, Ruth Bellamy

The boys eating cupcakes at Clayton's birthday party (our last weekend in Houston)

Aunt Christy (Connie's sister) and Uncle David

Jess, Jamin and Clayton in grandma's pool....enjoying their last splash.

Jamin with cousin, Justin

The boys with their Grandpa Bruce (Connie's dad)

Jamin and Uncle Curtis (Connie's brother)

Little Miss Ryleigh, our new baby cousin.

Jesse loved eating peanuts at Logan's. We went there several times over 4 months, but this was our last time there. I bet he could eat his weight in peanuts. He especially loved the fact that he could throw the shells on the floor.

Jesse and Jamin taking a pic with Robert's parents.....Jesse and Linda Murphy

Before we left for Little Rock to fly out, we met up with Robert's sister's family at El Chico and enjoyed their company for the last time in awhile. This is a pic with Colin McNabb (their oldest cousin)

Aunt Christy (Robert's sister), Carson and Kenly McNabb

Group shot before we head out

The boys love their Mrs. Bonnie!

So we headed back to the Philippines on August 7th. Little Rock-Dallas-LAX-Hong Kong-Cebu. It was a really long trip, but we had pretty good flights and can't complain too much. Well, our flight from Hong Kong to Cebu was less to be desired. We flew over a typhoon. We almost had to use those cute little bags in the front compartment of the seats. The pic below was taken somewhere over New Mexico/Arizona or Nevada on route to Los Angeles.

This is us after the long 14 hour flight. Hong Kong airport is really nice and huge. We were not in any hurry, so we decided to take a break.

This is Jesse at the mention of "Philippines". He was so ready to get back to his friends. When he saw the mountains of Cebu, on our descent to the runway, he started to tear up. We are so blessed to have kids that want to be here. Actually all three of our men were ready to be back.



Here is Robert trying to fit the 9 pieces of luggage in Mr. John's truck. The filipinos were laughing at how much stuff we had. You would think we were moving.